Regenerative furnace.



H. E. SMYTHE.

REGENERATIVE FURNACE. APPLICATION FILED APR. 1. 1915.

l 1 88 502. Patented June 27, 1916.

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7 I I l Z0 4% 00 0000 vj /00000000/ 0000000 Z4%&&0000// wITNEss' INVENTO R HORACE E. SMYTHE, OF PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGN'O'R TO THE S. R. SMYTHE COMPANY, OF PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA, A CORPORATION OF WEST VIRGINIA.

REGENERATIITE FURNACE.

Patented June 27, 1916.

Application filed April 1, 15115. Serial No. 18,486.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HORACE E. SMYTHE, a citizen of the United States, residing at Pittsburgh, in the county of Allegheny and State of Pennsylvania, have invented new and useful Improvements in Regenerative Furnaces, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to furnaces of the reversing regenerative type,

It has been the usual practice in the construction of regenerative furnaces to arrange tubular checkers in vertical formation, thereby permitting the gases going to or from the furnace chamber to deposit flue dust, slag, carbon, coal dust, and the like in the upper portions of the checkers, and choke or clog the same in a very short time. Checkerwork formed of vertical checkers requires the closing down of the furnace so that the checkers may be removed, cleaned, and replaced, thereby entailing a large loss of tonnage and excessive cost of operation, while a large loss is sustained by reason of the breakage of numerous checkers;

The objects of my invention are to arrange hollow checkers horizontally, so that the maximum heating surface is secured and the horizontal flues formed by the checkers may be cleaned by air, steam, or other fluid under pressure, or by mechanical means, such as scrapers. These fiues can be cleaned at regular intervals without stopping, removing the checkers or permitting the furnace to cool down, as will be described presently.

Referring to the accompanying drawing, Figure 1 is a central longitudinal vertical section through a checker chamber and a portion of the structures at each end thereof, all constructed in accordance with the principles of my invention; Fig. 2, a trans verse section of Fig. 1 onthe line IIII; Fig. 3, a view of the character of Fig. 1, but showing a modification of my invention; and Fig. 4, a transverse 'section of Fig. 3 on the line IV-IV.

Referring first to Figs. 1 and 2, 1 designates a checker chamber having the side walls 2 and 3, the front wall 5, the rear wall 6, the roof 7, and the bottom 8. On the bottom or floor 8, I place a number of walls 9 parallel with the side walls 2 and 3. On

erably cylindrical checkers 12 arranged end to end. A series of these rows of checkers lie side by side on the supports 10 and extend from the wall 2 t0 the wall 3 forming the bottom layer of lines, Other layers of flues constructed like the bottom layer, are superposed on the latter until the top layer reaches somewhat above the top of the wall 5 or to some other suitabledevel. The top layer is covered with a smooth layer 13 of refractory tile or fire brickso as to present a smooth upper surface, this surface being the floor of the passage 14 between the roof 7 and the checkerwork for the travel of the waste gases from the furnace and of the preheated air or. gas to the furnace. The forward end of the checkerwork' is separated from the wall 5 by the space 15 extending from the floor 8 up to the bridge 16 which covers the said space and forms a continuation of the floor 13. The checkerwork is separated from the wall 6 by a space which reaches from the passage 14 down to the floor 8, and is divided by the baffle or horizontal partition 17 into the spaces 18 and 19. The spaces 15 and 19 are connected by the flues or passages 21 between the walls 9 and betweenthe walls 9 and the sides 2 and 3. The side Wall 3 has one or more cleaning doors 22 at the lower portion of the space 15 so that the space 15 may beentered for cleaning out the deposits on the floor 8 and on the walls. 23 is a door, or removable portion, in the arch 24 in the wall 5, permit-- ting direct access to the forward end of the fines formed by the checkers 12. 25 is a door, or removable portion, in the arch 26 in the wall 6, permitting access to the rear end of the said flues. By opening this door or taking down the said removable portion of the wall 6, the said fiues may be readily cleaned by means of scrapers, or compressed air or steam, the foreign matter in the fines being driven into the space 15, at the bottom of which it collects whence it can be easily removed through the door 22. The

each end of the furnace. at one period pass through the two regenerator chambers at one end of the furnace and heat the checkerwork or flues therein while air enters the furnace chamber through one of the preheated regenerator chambers at the other end of the furnace and gasenters the furnace chamber through the other preheated regenerator chamber at the same end of the furnace. When the air and gas have extracted the heat from the last named chambers, the waste gases are caused to flow through the same to preheat them and the air and gas are caused to flow through the heated regenerator chambers to thefurnace. This is all well known and forms no part of the novelty of this 'invention. I have shown only one of the four regenerator chambers and one end of the furnace.

The operation is as follows: The waste gases from the furnace chamber 28 may be supposed to be flowing through the passages 27 and 14 and down into the space 18, and thence through the horizontal flues composed of the checkers 12 above the baffle 17. The waste gases enter the space 15and flow downwardly therein and then rearwardly through the flues 9 and the lowest layer of checkers 12 beneath the baflie 17 when they pass through the flue 29 to the stack. When the regenerator comprising the said checkers and -passages has become sufficiently heated the gases are reversed, and the air or gasrequired for combustion in the furnace chamber 28 pass from the fiue29 to the furnace chamber 28 in .a course the reverse of that just described for the waste gases, thereby preheating the air or gas. The course of the waste gases and of the air or gas through the regenerator shown is reversed alternately in the manner described while the furnace is in operation.

The construction in Figs.'3 and 4 is the same as that in, Figs. 1 and 2, except that the checkers 12 are arranged to form flues for the entire distance between the baffle 1'? to the floor 8, the walls 9 and the supports 10 being omitted. The functions of the fines 9 are performed by the checker flues. I have made the door 23 in Fig. 3 extend to the door line in order that the ends of all the fines may be exposedwhen necessary for cleaning or repairs.

I have arranged the checker flues in a solid manner preferably with their sides touching. Gases may flbw also along the outer surfaces of the checkers. The top of the regenerator. is made solid with ample I space above the same to give access for cleaning it.

I claim 1. In a reversing regenerative furnace, a furnace chamber, a. regenerator chamber, horizontal fiues superposed one on another in the latter chamber, a vertical passage at one end of the flues and in communication therewith, a. horizontal gasconducting means at the bottom of the regenerator chamber, connected to the vertical passage, a vertical passage at the remaining end of the fiues and in communication therewith, a passage connecting the furnace chamber with the upper end of the second vertical passage,

uppermost flues constituting a. portion of the floor of the said passage and a cleaning door opposite the end of the said passage farthest from the furnace chamber.

3. In a reversing regenerative furnace, a furnace chamber, a regenerator chamber, horizontal flues in the latter chamber, a vertical passage at one end of the fiues and in communication therewith, a vertical passage at the remaining end of the fiues and in communication therewith, an unobstructed passage connecting the second vertical passage with the furnace chamber, means separating the unobstructed passage from the first vertical passage, means for causing the gases to travel through some of the dues from one vertical passage to the other vertical passage, a door opposite the ffues in one vertical passage whereby a flue-cleaning device may be inserted in the fines and the foreign matter therein forced into the other vertical. passage, and a cleaning door for the latter passage.

4. In a regenerative furnace, a furnace chamber, a regenerator chamlier laterally opposite the furnace chamber and provided with superposed series of horizontal fines, a vertical passage at one end of the flues and in communication therewith, a vertical passage at the remaining end of the flues and in communication therewith, a horizontal passage extending over the first vertical passage and connected to the top of the second vertical passage, a partition separating the horizontal passage from the first vertical passage, a cleaning door opposite the horizontal passage and the second vertical passage, means to cause the Waste and fuel gases to pass through the flues from one vertical passage to the other vertical passage, conducting means for the said gases, having connection with the first vertical passage, and a cleaning door at the bottom of the last named passage.

Signed at Pittsburgh, Pa., this 30th day of March, 1915.

HORACE E. SMYTHE. 

